One Million Insects

by Isabel Thomas, Lou Baker-Smith (Illustrator)

This illustrated, fact-filled title explores the huge variety of insects, with a focus on what makes an insect an insect, the differences between the groups, and why insects are the most important animal group on Earth.

Did you know that without insects, humankind could not survive? This illustrated, fact-filled title explores the huge variety of insects, with a focus on what makes an insect an insect, the differences between the groups, and why insects are the most important animal group on Earth.

Broken down into sections exploring each of the main types of insect, each section takes a different, playfully visual approach to really capture the character of the insects in the order being explored. For example, on the dragonflies and damselflies spread, dragonflies are ferociously dive-bombing the very text itself, while damselflies sit serenely.

Includes practical advice for observing insects safely and ways to encourage insects into a garden no matter how small.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction

64 pages, Hardcover

Published September 7, 2021

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

God bless our local library system! I'll say it again: I learn more science from their children's books than I ever learned in high school and college.

Fascinating if often pretty gross book full of lovely I'm-gonna-say-watercolor illustrations — or at least as lovely as bug paintings can be:



…except that's wrong, as I was reminded here that "bug" is not synonymous with "insect," but is in fact the formal name for just one order of insects which includes aphids, scale insects, cicadas, water/stink/assassin bugs, etc., (although pill bugs are neither bugs nor insects at all, but in fact crustaceans). Other fun facts:

• Insects are the only "proper" independently-winged creatures; all others (birds, flying mammals and fish) have just evolved reshaped arms or fins.

• Female insects are just the worst. Only female mosquitos and horseflies bite; in fact, male mosquitos eat nectar and are important pollinators for flowers like orchids (aww!). And female stylops are about the most disgusting animal of any sort I've ever heard of…I can't even bring myself to describe them here; you'll have to Google for yourself.

• I had no idea that praying mantises — including the gorgeous flower mantises — are most closely related to cockroaches.

• New Zealand's giant wētā is the world's heaviest insect, "weighing as much as a small apple," (an odd comparison; they were the model for the giant grasshopper-like bugs in Peter Jackson's 2005 version of "King Kong," Jackson himself also being from NZ).

• Dragonflies are the world's most perfect hunters, catching fully 95% of the prey they attack. Their front and back wings can beat at different angles and speeds, allowing them to fly backward, vertically and even upside-down. Their heads are almost entirely eye, with 30,000 lenses that can detect at least 11 different colors, including ultraviolet, (humans can detect just three colors of light — red, green and blue).

• Glasswing butterflies' wings are transparent because they don't have scales, which are what give other butterflies their iridescent colors. And there are nine times as many moth species as butterflies; the easiest way to tell them apart is either by their antennae (moths are feathered, butterflies are thin and club-like) or resting postures (moths spread and flatten then wings, butterflies close them together). And finally, the monarch butterfly's annual Canada-to-Mexico migration takes several generations to complete, as each butterfly in this relay only travels a few hundred miles before stopping to lay eggs and then die.

• There are about 14,000 species of ant — which may sound like a lot, until you realize there are at least 20,000 types of bee, 30,000 species of wasp, 150,000 species of fly, 180,000 species of moth, and 300,000-400,000 (no one really knows, as new ones are being discovered all the time) species of beetle! (And yes, I do wonder sometimes if someone somewhere is just making this stuff up...)

• The beautiful luna moth never eats; in fact, it doesn't even have a mouth. It lives for only a week, surviving long enough to mate on the food it ate as a caterpillar.

• Wasps/bees: cool. Beetles: even cooler. Don't get me started…

• And lastly, my favorite is the glowing fungus gnat maggot, as it's fun to say and sounds like a Shakespearean insult: "thou, Sir, art a glowing fungus gnat maggot!"

Insects have been around (and in many cases, remained virtually unchanged) for 400 million years. And yet today they are threatened like never before, with almost half of species falling in numbers and insects overally dying out eight times faster than mammals, birds and reptiles. So plant a wildflower garden; let your grass grown a little longer and leave your weeds alone; and maybe even compost!

We need these little guys...aside from their importance in the natural world, scientists are discovering amazing new uses all applications all the time. Much of drone technology is based on insect physics; we have only recently learned that mealworms can eat and digest polystyrene (Styrofoam), which otherwise takes hundreds of years to break down; engineers are designing water harvesting systems modeled after the Namib desert beetle and bionic limbs based on grasshopper dynamics. What other miracles are out there waiting to be discovered...if we don't destroy them first?

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brilliant illustrated non-fiction book, though marketed for children, is brilliant for young or old and I think it would make a lovely addition to many peoples libraries.
Focusing on the very important but often overlooked insect world, the information is broken down into easily digestible chunks that are informative and convey the information in an interesting way. You can tell it has been very well researched and planned out appropriately.
That being said I think the illustrations were equally great, the style is charming and the organisation of the pages really balances out well.
While I did enjoy the information included in the book, I would have liked to have seen a bit of discussion on the importance of insects on an ecosystem and why they shouldn't be overlooked in that respect too.
Rated: 4.5 Stars

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books like this - that have many different illustrations packed in all the corners. This will be a good reference book for our insect unit of study. Recommended.

[Katrina McCollough · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fabulous! Amazing illustrations, so many cool insects, and a really impressive amount of detail. This is a must have for any kids that love our 6-legged friends.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of interesting insect facts and great illustrations